N.H. This Weekend: Fest-A-Palooza

Hippo Editor Amy Diaz has a list of festivals to attend. If you’re looking for food, art or history around the Granite State this weekend, we’ve got you covered.

Feeling hungry?

• Manchester serves up the Mahrajan Middle Eastern Festival, a celebration of Middle Eastern culture, featuring loads of live music & Lebanese food. The festival runs from Friday 8/15 through Sunday 8/17 and takes place at Our Lady of the Cedars Church.

• Also in Manchester, the We Are One Latino Festival celebrates the history of Latino culture in the Queen City and offers entertainment, food, and fun activities for the kids. The festival takes place in Veterans Park on Saturday, 8/16 and runs from 11:45 a.m. until 8 p.m.

• If you're in the mood for a cookout, head to the Pork Fest & Cookout. Presented by Grace Episcopal Church & Quality Cash Market, it's a festival with "all the fixings": traditional cookout fare, live music, games & raffles. The Pork Fest takes place on Sunday, 8/17, from noon to 2:30 p.m. and you can find it at Merrill Park in East Concord.

• Celebrate water the way it is celebrated in Southeast Asia at theLowell Southeast Asian Water Festival. Take in traditional dance and boat races while sampling Laotian, Burmese, Khmer & Thai food. The festival takes place Saturday 8/16 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Lowell Heritage State Park esplanade in Lowell, MA.

More interested in a feast for the eyes?

Try the 61st annualGreeley Park Art Show in Nashua. Artists from all over the region will gather in downtown Nashua to show off their work. There are two art contests (kids & adults) and a "Come and Paint" event for children. The show starts on Saturday 8/16 and runs through Sunday 8/17.

Strawbery Banke at night

Credit Roger H. Goun

Looking for a history lesson?

See Strawbery Banke in a different light: twilight. Take the Portsmouth Twilight Tour, Friday 8/15 from 5 to 8 p.m., and explore nine of the city's historic houses. Each location has something to offer, with storytelling, short plays, and refreshments. At Gov. John Langdon House, see original drawings of houses from Historic New England’s rich collection in Drawing Toward Home: Designs for Domestic Architecture. Other houses on the tour include Warner House, Moffatt-Ladd House, Wentworth-Gardner and Tobias Lear Houses, John Paul Jones House, Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion, and Strawbery Banke Museum.